


The Detective Job

by IsobelSionisFalcone



Series: Daughter of Steel [4]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: And solving mysterys, Hailey likes cosplay, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 18:57:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12394152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IsobelSionisFalcone/pseuds/IsobelSionisFalcone
Summary: Arthur entrusts Hailey with the task of finding out where the missing supplies from the supply depot are going.





	The Detective Job

**Author's Note:**

> I promise there will be more Arthur/Danse in the next fic.

Arthur sat at his desk, reading the reports Lancer Captain Kells had given him. His brows furrowed as he stroked his beard thoughtfully, his colleague respectfully waiting for a response.

"You think this is an inside job?" Arthur asked, his eyes flicking up to meet Kells'.

"Evidence would suggest that it's someone who knows procedures in the supply depot," he replied. "Whoever it is has access to the terminals and inventory stocks."

"Have we been able to narrow down any perpetrators?"

"Whilst it's embarrassing to report, the team down in the airport are... evasive," Kells said. "Knight Sergeant Gavil is insistent that his team wouldn't do anything to dishonour the Brotherhood. As a result, he's made it incredibly difficult to conduct any kind of formal investigation..."

The attention of both men was suddenly averted to the door as it creaked open. Hailey poked her head through the gap and observed the silence, now that she was present.

"Uh, sorry. Should have remembered to knock first."

Arthur dismissed the notion with a wave of his hand. "It doesn't matter. I was starting to wonder where you were."

"I was helping Scribe Neriah with some of her samples," she replied, stepping into the room and closing the door behind her. "Good morning, sir," she said to Kells and saluted, to which the Captain responded with a nod.

"Good morning, Hailey," he said. "I hear you've decided to take an active role in securing the Brotherhood's future."

The teenager scratched the back of her head. "I don't know if I'll have that much of an effect," she answered sheepishly, "but I'm taking my current duties very seriously, sir."

"That's good to hear," Kells responded. "I'm sure the Squires admire your determination."

"Don't get too carried away and think about smashing any Supermutant skulls just yet, Hailey," Arthur warned. "Besides, I think we may have an assignment for you." Hailey saw Kells raise his eyebrow and, in turn, she gave her father a questioning glance. "Not to worry, Captain," Arthur continued. "Hailey is well-practiced in the art of deception. If anyone can get the information you need, it's her."

"Gee, thanks, Dad," she said, rolling her eyes. "What do you need me to do?"

"There's a set of perishable supplies that are routinely disappearing," Kells explained. "We want to narrow down the list of suspects."

"You guys have got me running detective jobs, now?" She asked. "That's a new one on me."

"Can we rely on you, Hailey?" Arthur asked, his brow arching in a silent, playful challenge.

"Can I wear my Silver Shroud costume?"

Arthur sighed after a moment's thought. "I suppose so."

"I'm in," Hailey said gleefully. "I'll get right on it - just as soon as I change."

"Exercise caution, Hailey," Captain Kells advised. "I doubt that it'll be easy to extract any relevant information."

"I'll get to the bottom of it, sir. Don't worry," she smiled.

With that, she saluted and practically raced to her quarters to change. Obviously, she'd never worn the outfit of one of Hubris' most iconic characters outside of her room. Danse had brought it back for her, along with a Grognak the Barbarian costume, after clearing the old comic book store of ferals. She had been ecstatic at the time, able to imagine herself more vividly in the roles of her favourite characters, but being allowed to wear the trenchcoat and hat down at the airport was thoroughly exciting. The absence of a silver submachine gun was a little disappointing, but she could make do without it.

She picked up her laser rifle, on the off chance that she'd face any danger down in the airport and headed out to the flight deck to catch the vertibird. Arthur had recommended, since she'd been going around the base unsupervised, that she should carry a weapon. Hailey found through the training sessions that she was far better at sniping than close fire, hence she had chosen a rifle, rather than the standard issue pistol.

She received a few odd glances when the vertibird touched down and she hopped off, but it hardly mattered. As her first official assignment, she was most definitely determined not to disappoint. She wanted to prove to her parents that she was a capable young woman, able to hold her own. The costume was an extra of sorts that Hailey could use to her advantage. No one would be wary of a kid in cosplay.

As the teenager headed towards the supply depot, Danse, who had just returned from a mission, watched her from the other side of the airport. He raised an eyebrow and was simultaneously bemused and amused, seeing her hold her hat to her head as the vertibird took off once more. He chuckled lightly and shook his head; whatever she had planned, he was sure he'd hear about it later.

Upon entering the supply depot, Hailey spotted Gavil at his terminal. She was a little nervous now. If there was one soldier known for his stubbornly, strict conduct, it was Knight Sargent Gavil. She'd have to find a way to dig information out of him. She couldn't let her parents down, or Captain Kells. This was Hailey's opportunity to prove she could handle serious missions.

"Sargent Gavil, sir?" Hailey said, her tone a notch lower than usual.

The Sargent turned to face her, eyebrows raised and lip curled in a look of silent annoyance. "To what do we owe the pleasure of a visit from the Elder's daughter?" he asked, although a scornful edge laced his voice as he peered down his nose at the teenager. Had she been a Knight, she'd have told him to watch his tone. She certainly didn't like the way he'd spoken to her.

"Sorry to disturb you, sir," she began, but regretted it immediately. It only made him feel more powerful. "I've been sent by Lancer-Captain Kells to conduct a formal investigation into some missing supplies. Any and all relevant information would be of great value."

Hailey was proud of that.

Gavil, it seemed, was most certainly not. "That just shows how seriously this is being taken..." he muttered. "Listen, like I already told the Captain, I don't have anything for you. Nobody down in my department would steal supplies. What reason would they have to do so, anyway?"

"Tell me about the missing supplies, Sargent," Hailey said, pointedly avoiding his question. The direct approach obviously hadn't worked. She needed to switch tactics.

The Sargent sighed. "I told you; I don't know. It's just a small stock of foodstuffs that dissappears every now and then. It's not a major problem."

"With all due respect, sir, that's a major security risk," Hailey replied. "Does stock often 'dissappear'?"

"What? No, of course not. I..." he was flustered. She gave herself credit for that. "Look, I'm very busy at the moment. Go and bother Carke or Lucia if you have questions, but you're not going to find anything. Now, leave me alone."

With an ill-tempered grunt, the Sargent returned to work and as good as turned his back on her. He was either telling the truth about a backlog of work that was causing a great deal of irritability, or he was hiding something. Hailey wanted to find out a little more before she started jumping to conclusions.

Clarke and Lucia? The man she didn't know, but she'd been present for Knight Lucia's promotion ceremony. She seemed amiable enough, dedicated, certainly proud of her achievements. However, if there's one thing Hailey learned from reading comic books, it's that the answers are always hidden in plain sight. No one was innocent just yet.

She spotted the Knight across the depot, took a deep breath to compose herself, and approached her next interrogation target. Hopefully, she'd have more success this time.

"Ma'am?"

The mild surprise on Lucia's face was mirrored in her voice as she said; "Wow. It's not every day I get a visit from the Silver Shroud."

Hailey made her best effort to ignore the pleasantries, for the sake of her mission. "I have some questions about the missing supplies, if you don't mind, ma'am."

"They've set up an investigation?" Lucia asked, brows raised with concern. "I didn't know it was that serious."

"Important items are being taken from a heavily guarded depot, ma'am," the teenager replied impassively. "The security of the entire base is at risk if that's allowed to happen."

Hailey was pleased that the Knight looked a little worried, uneasy in anticipation of her line of questioning.

"No, of course," Lucia said quickly. "It's Hailey, right? Elder Maxson's daughter?"

"Not today, ma'am," she frowned, lips and brows in a firm, straight line. "I'm the Silver Shroud and I'm trying to hunt down a culprit. Tell me everything you know about security down here."

Lucia hummed thoughtfully and stroked her chin. "It's pretty tight," she replied. "At least two Knights and a Scribe on duty at all times. Nothing could get here without us noticing."

"Any way to get past all of that security?"

"Well..." Lucia began. "I mean, you'd have to have clearance to be in here in the first place. Only ones who have that are Sargent Gavil, me, Clarke and Proctor Teagan's team," she informed Hailey. "Besides, there's no way you could get a full crate of supplies off base. With all of the patrols, someone would have noticed."

Hailey raised an eyebrow and her lip curled in suspicion. "I never said they were being taken off base."

"Oh, I mean I... I just assumed when you said they were being stolen..." Lucia stammered. However, there was something about her that screamed innocence. She had always been proud to be a Brotherhood soldier. Besides, she wasn't secretive in any way and Hailey couldn't think of a plausible motive, either.

"Tell me about Clarke," she moved on quickly with her interrogation. Time was of the essence.

"Clarke?" the Knight asked. "We joined the Brotherhood at the same time. We did everything together, until I was promoted. It was the proudest day of my life," she smiled wistfully. "One day, he just... Stopped talking to me and I barely saw him."

"Could he have been jealous?" Hailey asked.

Lucia sighed pensively. "I thought about that, but after he started turning up late to shifts and then sneaking out by himself," she shrugged, "I began to think it was... Something more."

Hailey noted the way Lucia couldn't quite meet her gaze and then spotted guilt, although not the kind she was searching for. "You've been covering for him?"

Lucia squirmed uncomfortably. "What was I supposed to do? We're friends. I can't just..." she sighed heavily. "Look, could you do me a favour and see what he's up to? His shift finishes in a few minutes and, if I know him, he'll sneak off again. I can't leave my post, so I never know where he goes, but you'd probably be better at shadowing him, anyway."

"I suppose I'll have to, seeing as it's the only lead I have..." Hailey replied.

"Thank you," the Knight said. "I appreciate it."

The teenager left Lucia to her duties and moved around the back of the depot, pretending to inspect some of the crates. She kept a watchful eye on Initiate Clarke from between the shelves, careful to avoid Sargent Gavil. She had a feeling he'd put a stop to her investigation and she couldn't let her father down. He'd trusted her and, with any luck, it might be a chance to earn her uniform!

"I want you on time tomorrow, Initiate," she heard Gavil's stern voice echo through the depot.

"Yes, sir," came the response before Hailey saw Clarke collect his pack from the corner of the room.

She'd been expecting him to use the main entrance and return to the Prydwen, but to her surprise, he made for the other side of depot, through a steel door, to an area that Hailey was entirely unfamiliar with. She bit her lip, knowing she might have to push a few boundaries and go into the unguarded areas of the airport to follow Clarke. Once again, she was forced to weigh up her options. She could inform the Captain with the minimal evidence she had, which would likely result in no change, or she could listen to her gut and carry on with her investigation - and be one step closer to that uniform.

Her mind was made pretty quickly. After all, Hailey had her lazer rifle and she was positive that Scribes had swept the entire airport when the Brotherhood first arrived. She couldn't imagine anything threatening would lurk at the back of the airport, especially with the all of the noise and patrols so close by.

Wandering towards the door, peering at a few crates as she went to keep up appearances, Hailey entered what looked to be a small storage room. There was little in there besides an old (empty, she was disappointed to see) Nuka Cola machine, so she moved on outside, where the sea air and lapping waves were most present. It could make for quite a nice spot, she thought, but then again, the skeletons of various aircraft scattered across the sand weren't exactly adding to the aesthetics.

Crouching amongst the reeds, Hailey watched as Clarke passed by a hollowed out, rotting aeroplane. She stalked after him as silently as she could, hiding behind debris and clumps of grass to ensure she'd stay hidden. She had no doubt he was up to something. He was walking too quickly to be taking an after-work break and with far too much purpose. It was something she'd have to get to the bottom of and this determination only intensified when he approached the door to the airport ruins.

Hailey darted behind a sheet of steel wreckage as Clarke turned to survey his surroundings (more than proving his guilt) before the door creaked open and clicked closed. She only dared peering out a minute later, having lost sight of him. She'd dug herself a hole, now. Her parents definitely wouldn't want her going down there, but how could she stop now? The Silver Shroud would follow Clarke down there and find out what exactly he was doing. She was in too deep to make sensible decisions.

The teenager hurried to the door, looked once, twice to make sure she didn't company, then pulled the handle down. Pulling her rifle off her belt clip, she loaded the lazer cartridge and descended into the dark.

**Author's Note:**

> To be continued...


End file.
